Muhammad Mokaev spent Friday morning on X doing two jobs at once: critic of the UFC and unofficial recruiter for the PFL. First he answered Paulo Costa. Four minutes later he went after Dana White, arguing the UFC has abandoned elite competition in favor of whatever sells.
“Dana used to say best vs the best But today it is all about entertainment,” Mokaev wrote. He gave the promotion partial credit, saying the move makes sense from the business side but is wrong from a sporting one. Then he got personal, arguing the UFC could at least have waited until “their best fighters” took away his undefeated record. He described himself as a guy who beat the UFC’s No. 1 contender while still not in his prime. He signed off by tagging the PFL and predicting the promotion will “take over day by day!”
The Costa exchange started with a simple question. Costa had quoted a post with “Why is Paulo COsta there?” Mokaev replied with an open invitation: “Just stay active and keep winning Ask for a title shot and we will welcome you at our side.” That’s a guy who’s been in the building for five minutes already handing out visitor passes, and he wasn’t subtle about where he’s planted his flag. Two days earlier he posted “MVP x PFL is the future!”
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Costa’s own situation makes the pitch less random than it sounds. On Oct. 12 he wrote on X that he’d heard nothing from the UFC, that he plans to fight at an event at the end of the year, and that he’s in great shape and in his prime. He said he’ll fight somewhere. When a former middleweight title challenger publicly says he’ll fight anywhere that’ll have him, every promotion with a group chat starts typing.
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Mokaev’s complaint lands in the middle of a rough week for undefeated UFC fighters. MMA Fighting reported that Farid Basharat was removed from the UFC roster despite a 7-0 run in the Octagon. Jake Shields wrote on X that Mokaev went 6-0 in the UFC before his contract was dropped and that Basharat is 16-0 overall. Michael Page, meanwhile, is joining forces with Misfits Boxing. Not every fighter is buying the outrage. Zac Pauga posted that he saw a release coming months ago and suggested the fighter in question was being offered options he didn’t want, adding that “it’s not that cut and dry.”
My take: Mokaev’s point about the sport is fair, and his own tweet gives away the counterargument, since he admits the business side is right. A promotion that cuts guys who keep winning while booking whatever moves the needle is making a choice, and fighters are allowed to be loud about it. The Costa recruitment is the fun part. Borrachinha is one of the few guys on earth who can make a press conference go sideways just by showing up, and if the PFL lands him for that end-of-year fight he keeps talking about, Mokaev gets to claim the assist. Costa’s move is next, and his clock says December.
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